Prominence and Filament Eruptions Observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory: Statistical Properties, Kinematics, and Online Catalog

摘要

We present a statistical study of prominence and filament eruptions observedby the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory(SDO). Several properties are recorded for 904 events that were culled from theHeliophysics Event Knowledgebase (HEK) and incorporated into an online catalogfor general use. These characteristics include the filament and eruption type,eruption symmetry and direction, apparent twisting and writhing motions, andthe presence of vertical threads and coronal cavities. Associated flares andwhite-light coronal mass ejections (CME) are also recorded. Total rates aregiven for each property along with how they differ among filament types. Wealso examine the kinematics of 106 limb events to characterize the distinctslow- and fast-rise phases often exhibited by filament eruptions. The averagefast-rise onset height, slow-rise duration, slow-rise velocity, maximumfield-of-view (FOV) velocity, and maximum FOV acceleration are 83 Mm, 4.4hours, 2.1 km/s, 106 km/s, and 111 m/s^2, respectively. All parameters exhibitlognormal probability distributions similar to that of CME speeds. A positivecorrelation between latitude and fast-rise onset height is found, which weattribute to a corresponding negative correlation in the average verticalmagnetic field gradient, or decay index, estimated from potential field sourcesurface (PFSS) extrapolations. We also find the decay index at the fast-riseonset point to be 1.1 on average, consistent with the critical instabilitythreshold theorized for straight current channels. Finally, we explorerelationships between the derived kinematics properties and apparent twistingmotions. We find that events with evident twist have significantly faster CMEspeeds and significantly lower fast-rise onset heights, suggestingrelationships between these values and flux rope helicity.